5 questions for tax inspector general J. Russell George

George will face Democrats who have recently questioned his credibility. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

3) What about the separate probe?

Democrats have criticized George for failing to inform Congress that in addition to his famous audit, a separate group of TIGTA investigators examined 5,500 IRS employee emails and found no evidence that political bias motivated the scrutiny of tea party groups.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Fueling Democrats’ anger even further, Cummings has alleged that the review of the emails was “scrubbed from an earlier draft” of the TIGTA audit.

“It is a huge omission on TIGTA’s part,” a Democratic aide said. “Had that been included in the audit, it would have changed the whole tenor of [the] issue to begin with and subsequent investigations.”

George has insisted during previous hearings that he conducted a limited audit at the request of a lawmaker — Issa — and wasn’t leading a broad investigation.

And even if the emails weren’t included in the report, George has repeatedly said during congressional hearings that he found no evidence of political bias at the IRS.

He’ll most likely have to say the same thing on Thursday.

4) Why did you recently intervene to withhold IRS documents from Congress?

Last week, IRS employees were prepared to turn over another batch of new documents to Oversight staffers, but George “personally” intervened, according to the letter Cummings sent to Issa.

Now Democrats are wondering if he’s covering up something.

The law bans the IRS from sharing details with anyone — including most members of Congress — that might reveal sensitive taxpayer information. Since May, the IRS produced hundreds of thousands of documents for the panel and simply redacted personally identifiable taxpayer information.

George raised eyebrows when he said the information IRS planned to share with the committee crossed the legal line. Cummings questioned if George could be “prevent[ing] the disclosure of relevant information that could raise further questions about the reliability of his report and testimony.”

Michigan Rep. Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday that it is “imperative that the inspector general operate in a nonpartisan manner and be completely forthcoming with the Congress and the American people.”

On Thursday, George could simply retort that he’s trying to enforce the law and protect Americans’ private information — which the public is even more sensitive about in the scandal’s aftermath.

5) Can we trust you?

“People are going to be looking for clues as to [George’s] capacity for objectivity, which has been very badly damaged,” Connolly said. “Why should we trust anything you say?”

Democrats privately have raised questions about $2,800 worth of campaign contributions George made to Republicans before he took his inspector post, suggesting he could have a political agenda.

The inspector general’s office has previously said it stands by its audit and that any suggestions of a bias from George is unfounded.

Cummings, for his part, said he isn’t ready to vilify George.

“One thing I’m not going to do is prejudge him, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted him to have an opportunity to come in and clarify certain things that we need to know,” he said.